The Shadow of Trumpets

Wow! Very beautiful. Great job for the choir. I feel like I'm ready for sounding the trumpet, aren't you? You've been around for a while. You've been hearing about this for a long time. I appreciate, of course, Mr.

Judson's involvement in it. We pray that the choir keep on keeping on like that. They did a wonderful job. We've had some good messages today, in the morning. Two very fine messages from Mr. Knutson and Mr. McKeon. And, you know, the sermonette by our newly minted elder. And I guess that's opposed to an old minted elder here. So if he's a new penny, I'm an old, old penny. But anyway, it doesn't matter, does it? In a million years, it won't matter for any of us.

I know we've already heard this question before, but why do we gather here to observe this Feast of Trumpets? It's like I said up at Northern Arizona. You know, why do we all dress up, you know? And I talked about how that, in fact, we're having a dress rehearsal. And we're preparing for the Kingdom.

But, you know, I guess we could probably just close our books and go home now, huh? That's what we're doing, rehearsing. No, there's a lot more to it than that. You know, many don't know the great significance of this Feast Day. They have no clue. You know, your neighbors didn't have any clue as to why you got up, got all dressed up, spiffed up, and you headed out. And interestingly, many who do know about this day, that it's mentioned in the Bible, they see no connection with the return of Christ at all. They don't even reconnect it at all. Some professing Christians think that the, in fact, festivals, all of them that are mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, are only shadowy representations of Christ, that that's all it is.

So, you know, you don't even need to keep them. You don't need to observe these old holy days. We got the Christ! We don't need, you know, these holy days. And yet, you know what? The Bible says that we are to be most joyful on this day. We'd be very, very happy on this day. I won't have you turn to it, but I'll read the scripture to you. In Psalm 89 verse 15, it says, Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, that know the joyful sound. They, it says, shall walk, O eternal, in the light of your countenance. Now, that may not sound like much, but, you know, if you look in the Hebrew there for that particular two words, joyful sound, it means the blast of the trumpet.

You know, you wouldn't pick up on that in the King James, or the New King James for that matter. It is from, of course, the Hebrew word teruah, which is translated trumpet. And you know what it means? Loud noise. It's a racket. It's a loud noise, but it's rejoicing. It's like here, we had all these fellas blowing the trumpets. Now, you know, for some people it was a bunch of noise, right? But I guarantee you, if you had five or six people blowing on this, maybe ten people blowing on this, and you didn't know anything about it, you would come near because you'd want to find out what is the trumpet blowing about?

You know, what's the excitement about? We might put it that way. So again, blessed are those, though, that hear the joyful sounds, like Mr. Knutson was talking about. Are we hearing the trumpet? Are we hearing it? Do we hear that God is trumpeting to us, each of us individually? This word, by the way, for trumpets is the same one that is in Leviticus 23, verse 24, where we're told that this day is a memorial, the blowing of trumpets. Again, why doesn't the world and the churches of the world do this? And of course, we know that on this day, a very special horn was blown.

It was the shofar. I don't know if you saw the exhibit in there, but the shofar that was placed there by the Gomarads, but a beautiful golden shofar that was blown on this holy day. So what is the real significance of this day for us? What is its real significance? We know this day pictures several things. The sermonette talked about the wedding of Christ.

And of course, when it pictures number one, the Christ is returning, and that we will get married to Christ, as Mr. Fogelson was talking about there. The next thing is the resurrection. This has been spoken about by all those that have spoken here today. And the third is the coming tribulation. But there's something beyond this that we need to see that is the ultimate significance of what we're doing here today.

What it's all about. And why, in fact, that you're in this chair today, and you're listening. The Bible does say the holy days are shadows of the things to come in the Book of Colossians in chapter 2, verse 16. Indeed, it does. But what does that mean? What does it mean? Well, you know, we find in the New Testament the church actually observing the holy days. They were keeping the holy days. And Jesus, remember, clearly kept the Feast of Tabernacles.

He only went up to Jerusalem, and it was dangerous for him to do so. He risked his life to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and the last great day. We read about that in John 7 in one of the Gospels. The church kept Pentecost of 31 A.D., Acts 2. All you'd have to do is read the Bible, and it's all through it. Paul kept, in fact, many of the holy days, and we know that even Pentecost is mentioned, he had to keep Pentecost. He had to journey, in fact, to Ephesus and to Jerusalem to keep the holy days.

And of course, the Passover was kept as well in the days of the 11th Brethren, mentioned all through the book of Acts. And Luke talks about the Day of Atonement in Acts 27, verse 9. So they were observing the holy days. You know, they were acting kind of strangely if they weren't, right? Luke was a rogue if he wasn't observing the holy days, because he's mentioned them all through the book of Acts.

But we know that they were keeping the holy days. The holy days, being shadows then, certainly doesn't mean that we should not observe them. It doesn't mean at all. Why? Because the festivals picture monumental events that are going to occur. They're prophesied to occur in the future. Let me talk about some things, though, that are very important, that we know and we apply today. Now, how are the holy days shadows of things to come?

You know, all of us know what a shadow is, don't we? Remember when you were a little kid that you would be maybe walking in the afternoon and you would see how long your shadow was? You know, you tried to outrun your shadow, and you found you couldn't do that.

Why? Because when you start at the very tip of the shadow, it comes to you. It comes to you. It comes to the real thing. And so the holy days are shadows, indeed, and trumpets is a shadow. But for shadow, something tremendous, just tremendous. No, we need to get excited about what we're doing as God's people. We really do. We need to be excited about the return of Jesus Christ.

I mean, that's going to be the most exciting thing. It's going to change the entire world. It's going to flip the tables, as Mr. McKeon talked about. But trumpets pictures this one thing that is so important not only to you and me, but to this whole world. And that is trumpets pictures repentance now and for the future as well. And it will always have that significance. Even the Jews understand this aspect of it, although they maybe don't understand a lot of things, they understand this.

They have, in fact, a period of time that they observe. I think it's called teshuvah, if I'm not mistaken. Don't correct me if I'm wrong about that. Just realize my mind may have slipped my mind. But, you know, one thing we find about in the scriptures is that God always warns people before He judges them and He lowers the boom. Isn't that wonderful? He warned you about things before He lowers the boom.

And He warned people before the flood. I mean, Noah preached for a hundred years. Maybe more than that, in fact. And the flood came and people didn't listen. Only eight people were saved. Jonah went through Nineveh, and of all people you wouldn't expect to repent.

Well, they repented. And God decided He wasn't going to destroy them. So, you see, God always warns people before He lowers the boom. And thankfully, Nineveh repented. But God is warning the United States right now, in Britain. He's warning the world about what is coming, what is going to happen. And we're trying as much as we can. We're just a little work that are trying to carry the gospel to the world. And we sure need to do a whole lot more than we're doing as God's people.

But this nation is going to go into captivity, brethren. I know you've heard this a lot through the years, if you've been around for a long time. But it is coming. It is coming for this nation. And we just want to make sure we're not the group that goes into captivity. When it happens, this is why the work we're doing is so important, brethren. We live in a time where the family is being torn down so rapidly in this nation, in this country. The LGBT, whatever letters they've added, I don't even pretend to know what they are.

I think they've added an M to it, and who knows how many other letters to it. But they have dominated so much, and they have been responsible to a large degree with what's happening in the schools and other things that are happening in our society, where the family is being destroyed. Many don't see sex outside of marriage as even wrong anymore, or that it's a sin. And the idea of marriage itself is declined because people are shacking up.

They don't want to, they don't get married anymore. I guess they think they're smart. They think, well, I'm going to drive this vehicle before I get married to it. But I wouldn't want to marry anybody that looked at me like that. I don't know about any of you here. I'm going to take them around the block a few times before I ever sign on the dotted line and get married to that man or that woman.

But it's like God said to ancient Israel and Judah in the book of Isaiah. He said, the show of their countenance doth witness against them. And they declare their sin asada, they hide it not. Whoa! It says, under their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. You know, they're not even ashamed of wickedness anymore. And of course, homosexuality and lesbianism is increasing more and more. No shame, no red-facedness about it. You know, and that might get me in jail, by the way, what I just said there.

And you know what? I'm ready for it. That's what God has in mind for all of us. Because I intend to continue to preach the truth, to tell people, and to cry aloud. The Bible says, cry aloud, you know, lift your voice up like a trumpet so that people can hear it, and they can know it. And it's like when Mr. Miller did the announcements this morning. I thought he gave such clear-cut instructions, you didn't mistake what he was talking about.

And you know, I hope that you look upon what I say today, that I know what he said. And I believe that he was convicted about what he said. But, brethren, we need to be different from this world, and it's not even a shame anymore. You know, our people today, modern Israel, are headed, as I said earlier, toward captivity. Now, think about this. If Israel repented like Nineveh repented, God would change his plan. He'd reverse what he was going to do. But, brethren, it's about to happen. The hammer is about ready to fall. And I hope you don't look upon what I'm saying here.

It's negative. It is the truth. And sometimes, as they say, sometimes the truth hurts. Let's notice in Revelation 1 here, because this day also pictures the day of the Lord. When God begins to take a hand in world affairs. And connected with this feast of trumpets, obviously, is trumpets. But notice over here, in verse 10 here, John was projected to the Lord's day. In the time ahead of us, yet ahead of us.

But in verse 10, it says, And I was of the Spirit on the Lord's day. A lot of people think that was on Sunday. Obviously not. The whole book of Revelation generally is about the day of the Lord. When God begins to take a hand in world affairs. And going on, And I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet.

When angels speak, it's like a trumpet, a thundering trumpet. You imagine when God speaks. Imagine His voice. We used to talk about when I was a kid how when you heard the thunder, it was God talking. You know, in the storm, if you heard the rolling thunder, it was God talking. Well, there may be a little bit of truth to that if you were to hear God talk. It might rattle your teeth. Even if you didn't have false teeth, it might rattle your teeth. You know, if you heard the voice of God.

You know, in Christ came preaching, He warned people to repent. He came preaching the gospel of the King of God. He said, Repent for the time as it had. The kingdom of God is near, in other words.

It is now possible. And of course, He was right there with them. And the Greek word repent, brethren, literally means to exercise your mind to think differently. Start thinking differently. Begin to think right. Figure out what is right and think that way. You know, and we are living in a time where, in fact, Paul, the Apostle Paul said, Truly these times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent.

And so it doesn't matter, even though this is not the only day of salvation, God commands everybody to repent. And of course, not everybody is going to repent, unfortunately. But the time is going to come where they are going to have to repent. They are going to have to face up to reality. No more excuses, like I wrote to you in a pastoral letter.

Don't make any more excuses. It is not going to do you any good. You either have to stand and deliver or just toss it in and say, I don't want to even be in the kingdom. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians over here. 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. And notice what Paul writes here to the Thessalonica, who were the more studious, apparently, of churches. Because the way Paul addresses this letter to them, notice what he says in verse 1. But concerning the times, he says in the seasons, brother, we have no need, you have no need that I should write to you. I think I could probably write this same thing to you.

This church, you've been educated, you know, the times that we're living in. For you yourselves know how perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes, it says, as a thief in the night. Think about that. It's going to creep up on people. I believe, brethren, that many of the things that we read in the book of Revelation can happen within a matter of days.

It's going to come, it's going to swoop down on the world. It's going to impact the world in a very traumatic way when these things happen. You know, it may be a matter of weeks or months, but it's going to be quickly. It's not going to happen, you know, over a period of 30 or 40 years. It's going to happen rapidly.

And it's going to have a very reason, a purpose for God bringing these things. But going on here, notice here, and he says, For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, and labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. So we don't want to be caught in that time. And Paul said, you're aware that they're coming. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day shall overtake you as a thief. It's not going to just creep up on you. You're prepared. You're preparing, spiritually speaking. You know, as we're supposed to, as God's people. And on down through here, it says we're the children of light. We shouldn't be walking in darkness like we don't know any better. But we should watch, as he says here in verse 6, and be sober. Now is not the time to party. Now is the time to sober up. Now is the time to be serious about what your life is and what are you doing, or what are you not doing. But it says in verse 7, for those who sleep, sleep at night. And those who get drunk are drunk at night. And he said, but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. We ought to have that, in other words, as our mental mindset of how we're thinking all the time, looking forward to the things that are going to happen. So it's interesting, the way Paul puts it, though, that the day of the Lord's coming is a thief, like a thief in the night. It's going to be there. You don't expect it, and then it happens. Then it happens. Boom. It occurs.

This day symbolizes, brethren, the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord. It's going to come like a thief in the night. Revelation 6. Let's go back to the book of Revelation over here.

In Revelation 6, on down here in verse 12, we won't read a lot of this, but after he talks about these signs that are in verse 12, the six seal being opened, the stars of heaven begin to fall to the earth. As fig trees drop in verse 13, it's like figs when it's shaken by a mighty wind. Revelation 6 verse 14, then the sky recedes a scroll when it's rolled up in every mountain and island was moved out of its place. It won't do Ellison any good if he's brought one of the Hawaiian islands.

He's not going to be safe there. He's not going to do the guy that does the Facebook who bought a major portion of Kauai. I think Ellison bought 95% of Lanai. It won't do him any good whatsoever. This is what people are preparing for, the things that probably some of them actually see building up and growing toward that end.

In verse 15 it says, "...the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanders and the mighty men." And every slave... What? It says there are going to be slaves during this end time. "...and every slave and every freemen hid themselves of the caves and the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains, and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" This is the day of the Lord when God begins to take a hand in world affairs. It talks about how the ocean is going to be foaming and roaring, and it says men's hearts are going to be failing them for fear. People are going to drop dead. It's amazing, you know, that these things are indeed coming. The seventh seal is the day of the Lord when it begins to be unfold before people.

It's when, again, God takes a hand in dealing with humanity. You know what the purpose of what God is going to do? The purpose of what he is doing is to break man's stubborn pride and his resistance to obey. Man just will not obey. It doesn't matter what he faces. The trials he goes through, it doesn't matter. They always come back and say, well, the reason we've got global warming is because of what all this polluting we're doing.

Well, you know, there is such a thing as divine intervention. And I think in the world, in the end of the age, there are some divinely things that are going to happen that are caused, maybe, by God. Some things maybe he will allow, but some things he may cause. But he's going to break man's stubborn pride that has been there since Adam. You remember Adam basically said, God, we want you to get out of our business. We don't want to make our own mind up. That's why they took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And, of course, God said, okay, okay, I'll let you do that. And he drove him out of the Garden of Eden, and man began to choose his own way.

And look what happened the last 6,000 years. It's been barely a time we've ever had a period where we ever knew peace, where people were tranquil, where they were living in prosperity. You know, we used to talk about how the other half lives, that people live in poverty around the globe. Over in Revelation 8, notice it says, And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And no, this is not proof there are no women in heaven. You know, don't ever try to get me to say that.

The silence that is here, and I'm sorry, ladies, I had to do that. But silence sort of is a mark that something awful is about to take place. Something very awful is going to occur. God doesn't want to bring these things. He doesn't want to allow these things to happen. He could stop them if he wanted to. A lot of these things may have to do with nature, and the nature of the solar system, the nature of what he's created.

And you know, we have no idea how many times God has diverted asteroids. We have no idea how many times he's diverted comets, and we didn't know anything about it. We were down here, just little kids, going about, and we didn't know what God was doing for us. But what if he says, uh-uh, I'm not going to do anything about it? And then, havoc results. Terrible havoc. You can read, you know, as the next part of this takes place, the seventh seal is seven trumpet plagues that begin to happen. And each one, it's almost like it gets progressively worse and worse.

I'm not going to go through it, but apparently, from what we can see in the Scriptures, there's going to be, you know, awful things, again, that are going to happen, but a fierce meteor shower probably is going to initiate it, you know, which is kind of something that probably, from a standpoint of astronomy, one would expect, if there's an orb of size, a great size, that it usually has a lot of debris around it. And so, when it begins to approach Earth, naturally, there are going to be, you know, meteorites are going to be falling to the Earth, except these are going to be pretty big.

You know, some of you may remember that Russia had a problem with that. They had some rather large ones that, in fact, leveled the whole forest, you know, over in, I believe, Siberia. And they had one after that, that impacted hundreds of thousands of people. And so, these things are real, brethren, they're going to happen. We're going to have meteor showers that begin to pummel the Earth, because they will hit the Earth, and there are going to be fires all over the planet, so much so that what occurs is a third of the trees are destroyed.

Think about that. No, we get a little out of, our nose has been out of shape when you've got a forest fire over in California. What if a third of the planet is on fire, and the trees are being burned up? Where do you want to be when those things begin to happen, brethren? And then a massive flaming asteroid follows that, and it slams into the Earth, killing, apparently, it hits the ocean, and it kills a third of all the fish that are in the ocean.

You imagine these fish washing ashore and beginning to stink. Sort of reminds you of what it was like for the children of Israel during the time of Egypt. The smell and the stentures is so bad. A third of all the sea vessels are destroyed. You know, they have those washed ashore as well, and you're going to see incredible chaos that will occur. And following that, another giant bolide is going to be careening out of the sky, and a third of the rivers.

The ocean is destroyed, at least a third of it is destroyed. And then, with this new asteroid that apparently crashes, it ruins the rivers, and the freshwater sources are poisoned so people, if they drink of them, die. And great upheavals are happening all over the Earth, and you can't know where it's going to happen. Where it's going to happen in New Zealand or Hawaii or Phoenix, Arizona, for that matter. Or where it may be. Wherever people probably have thought, well, this is the safest place to be.

They'll find out not so much. Not what you may think. And again, the New Testament prophecy gives us an indication that the oceans are just going to be reeling and roaring. So it will be terrifying to people when these things happen. I want you to think about the fact, brethren, that when it's over, billions of people will die. Man wants, he'd like to wipe out 90% of the population. He may get it.

He may get to that. But it will be because, it won't be because of what God does, it will be because of what man does. Let's go to Revelation 9. Revelation 9. Revelation 9, verse 20. Notice this, it says, But the rest of mankind, even after all this has happened, you might say, hell is broken loose around the planet. But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of, it says, the works of their hands.

They didn't repent. And that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And so they didn't do that. And they did not repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their thefts. They didn't repent of that.

You see, they're just a stubborn pride. Hanging on, hanging on. Gotta have your own way, do your own thing. Well, brethren, I don't want to be in that club. Because I read the book, and it sounds like that club's going to lose. They're not going to do too well in the future. See, man is going to have to reverse, he's going to have to reverse the way he lives, and begin to live God's way. And it's going to take, brethren, the captivity and devastation to bring our people in this nation, in this country, to a repentance. And that's what God is after, breaking the pride and bringing people to repentance.

And God wouldn't do it unless man wasn't so stubborn. It talks about how, in fact, that the cities are going to be laid waste to the United States. And that's going to probably be the very beginning of the tribulation. We'll start the tribulation, this country will. And if things are, the hatred is building in the world. For the United States of America, Britain, it's not diminishing.

All the good we have done, people want to destroy us. And Judah, remember, ended up getting taken to captivity in 585, with some returning in the time of Cyrus. But Judah was able to return, at least some of the people were. They didn't lose their identity because they were keeping the Sabbath. And it's almost like God preserved them. But Israel, on the other hand, went into captivity, and they did lose their identity. They lost out about the Sabbath. They were taken to the shores of the Caspian Sea, and they were captives there. Then they, remember, migrated on up into Europe, across Europe, and on up to England, and then to North America.

They came over, you know, probably many of those people were in the Mayflower and other ships that came over. I know my family got here in about 1635, landed at Jamestown. A couple of brothers, Tuck brothers, that came in at that time. But a lot of people came over to this land. And for a while, people lived differently. You know, when they came, one of the ideas is that they wanted this people, this nation, that they realized it was going to be formed to be a light to the world.

And we've long since lost that, haven't we, as a people? We're not a light to the world anymore. It'd be nice if we were. But one thing about Israel and the other tribes that are represented besides Iphraim and Asa, the United States of Britain, is that our peoples have never loathed themselves for what they were, and the sin that they committed. I was talking beforehand about, you know, with one of our members, and talking about how people used to be different. Even if they weren't keeping the sand, but they were different people.

They had some morals about them. There were things they would not do. I don't care if they were keeping the Sunday, or... But they had certain morals about them. And I'm not saying that everybody is jettisoned to morals, but too few, brethren, have good morals anymore. Too few in this world. I don't know how many it is. I don't keep count of that type of thing. But you are like me. You see the way people are. You know what they do, how they live, and you're around them. But our people have never come as a whole group, you know, as a nation to loathe ourselves for what we are, and to repent and turn to God in dust and ashes, and repentance before God.

That hasn't happened. So Ezekiel has never been fulfilled. The Bible says that God was going to allow Israel to go into captivity, and there they would loathe themselves as slaves. Let's go to Ezekiel 6 here. Ezekiel 6, quickly head over there to that. Put that in your mind here. What it says, it talks about the cities being laid waste over there in Ezekiel 6. But down in verse 9, notice this, And then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations, where they are carried captive.

Verse 9 of chapter 6 of Ezekiel, Because I was crushed by their adulterous heart, which has departed from me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols, and they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. And what's going to happen? And they shall know that I am the term, and I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them. You know, if you think these aren't going to happen, brethren, you and I have got another thing coming.

We haven't truly repented if we think these things can't happen. Read it. That's what it says. If I'm reading it correctly, and I believe I am, that we need to, in fact, go through a repentance, and we have not already gone through that, and we need to return to God. And again, that Ezekiel prophecy is going to be fulfilled.

And God will warn Israel as he's doing today, that if they don't repent, they will go into captivity. And when slavery comes upon them, then is when they will loathe themselves. When they've got nothing, they'll hate themselves, and they will turn to God. And that loathing yourself is a part of the repentance process.

Come in and see yourself as you really are. It's like Mr. Armstrong said when he was baptized, that he was a worthless hunk of junk, wooden fit on the junk pile. And all of this, frankly, fit into that category. There's nothing good in us. Only God puts the good in us. And that is the only good thing we have, and we're not responsible for it.

It's what God puts in us. So, Trumpets pictures repentance now and in the future. It's a shadow that is coming for the whole world that's going to occur. Another thing, Trumpets is a shadow, brethren. It's a shadow of Christ. Now, what do I mean by that? It's a shadow of Christ, and it relates to you and me. Trumpets, I don't think, again, I'm speaking to an uneducated audience, but Trumpets begins the Jewish New Year.

And that's why it's called, what is the Hebrew name for it? Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah. Which means, yeah, head of the year. Rosh is head, and Shana is year. It's the head of the year. Well, why in the world is this the head of the year?

I thought the first month was a Passover period. That time, Nisan. Now, why is it now? Why do they call this the head of the year? And this is the seventh month. The seventh month. And today is the first of Tishri. Tishri is the month we were just beginning. You know that the Talmud says that, in fact, the beginning of the year marks the birthday when the world was created.

That's why it's called the head of the year. It's when the world was created. Interestingly, they go on to say that it was the day that Adam was created. On Tishri, one. This feast of trumpets that we observe looks to that. And what we're doing today is a shadow relating to Adam, as a matter of fact, as well. So again, how could the trumpets then be a shadow of Christ?

How could it be a shadow of Christ? You know, I read at the very beginning, blessed is the people who know the joyful sound, or the shout. You know, there's one noise you want to hear in the future. And it is going to be the best sound you ever heard. It's going to be a sound of rescue, of unbelievable rescue in the future for all of us, brethren. Let's go to Psalm 98. Psalm 98. Psalm 98 over here. Psalm 98. Notice again some of the same type of wording as I read before.

But in Psalm 98, verse 6, notice this. With trumpets. And by the way, this word, trumpets, here, is from the Hebrew word, ruah. But it says here, again, verse 6, With trumpets with the sound of a horn, Shout joyfully before the eternal the king. With trumpets with the sound of a horn, shout joyfully. Now, I went through some pretty horrendous things. You know, Mr. Fogleston mentioned about the grueling things that were ahead, and I gave you more details, and I left a lot of stuff out.

But brethren, there are some difficult and horrible things that are coming. But it says here that, you know, the trumpets are going to sound, and the horn. And that, in fact, that word, trumpets, is from the Hebrew word, which means a shout. It's going to be a shout. And figuratively, it means to split the ears. It's going to be a shout that just splits your ears. It's going to be loud. It's going to be a piercing sound, like the sound of the shofar. No, we read at the very beginning how blessed we are if we hear the shofar. We hear the shofar. If you get the chance to hear that shofar, like I said, you want to hear this shofar.

You really do want to hear it. And like I said, we had, you know, 10 people blowing on, you know, horns and shofars. You'd want to know, you'd be interested in why they were doing it, wouldn't you? Be very interested in why they were doing it. You know, all of us live by probably, I don't know how many of you do. I won't even ask you for a showing of hands. How many of you have to wake up in the morning with an alarm clock?

You know, you don't have to show your hands for that. He used to have a roommate that woke up with an alarm clock, and he was in the top bunk, and I had to unplug it every morning because he never heard it.

But I always missed his class, or was late for it. But alarm clocks wake us up from sleep. At Trumpus, brethren, the shofar blasts a loud ear, a loud ear-splitting sound which will wake up the dead in the future. This sound is going to be so loud that the dead will wake up. You know, we need those kind of horns now, don't we, in the church? To blow those kind of horns. But this is going to be quite remarkable that it wakes the dead. Let's go over here to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, in verse 45.

And so there is coming a time when a horn is going to be so powerful it is going to wake the dead, and we'll read about that in just a few minutes here. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, down to verse 45, I want to point this one thing out. I mentioned about how that Trumpets was the birthday of Adam and Eve.

This is when they were created, according to the Talmud. And, you know, I don't know whether, in fact, how accurate that is. But it sounds logical, and it is probably so.

But notice here in verse 13 of chapter 4. I'm sorry. Did I tell you to go to 15? I'm sorry. I bypassed the Thessalonians. It is 1 Thessalonians 4. Did I say 1 Corinthians? Well, shame on you for not knowing I meant 1 Thessalonians 4. You know, I tell my wife that all the time. I said, you should have known what I was thinking. She thinks that I can read minds. Actually, she knows I can't. But 1 Thessalonians 4, in verse 13. You know, that's an occasion where my tongue got over my eye teeth and I couldn't see what I was citing. Only if you're from Oklahoma can you understand what I just said. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13. It says, But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep. Lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. And hopefully we're not in that category. That we don't sorrow like other people about death when it does come. But in verse 16, let's notice it says here, For the Lord Himself, not somebody else, but the Lord Himself, with a sin from heaven, with a shout. Here's that trumpet. When John was taken on the day of the Lord, he heard a trumpet, a sound of a trumpet. But it says, He will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with a trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. They're going to rise first. They're going to rise from the grave. And so a great shout is going to make that happen. And then we, which are alive, are going to be hearing this same shout, this same trumpet. And shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Of course, you know what happens when we meet Christ in the air? Where's He going to go? He's going to set His feet down on the Mount of Olives. It's going to cleave in two, and all the things begin to happen. The same Jesus as it was saying in Acts chapter 1, that you saw, departs, is going to come in like manner. And so this has not happened. Now, I want to clue into on the fact that it says Jesus Christ Himself is coming. Not somebody who is representing Christ. Not somebody who's a victor for Christ. Christ is coming back. See, the Scripture is very specific. That Jesus Christ is returning in the future. And so this ultimate shout, brethren, is that Christ returned, and God will awaken those dead in Christ to allow ear-splitting sound of a trumpet, and the first resurrection will take place then. And then we which are alive will be changed. And this will be the beginning of God's plan to recreate Himself. Because we're going to be changed in the spirit beings. And we don't know what we're going to be like, but we're going to be like Christ. Because John says in 1 John 3 verse 2, we're going to see Him as He is. We'll be like Christ. And Christ said, you know what Christ said? You see Me, you see the Father. So we'll be like the Father, not as obviously as powerful as God. But God is going to change us, brethren. And the significance is that Adam was created, or born, if you will, on trumpets. And that this day of trumpets pictures the return of Christ, a time when we're going to be changed. Now we don't know whether or not, again, Christ is going to return specifically on the day of trumpets. Then again, we don't know that He will not, either, do we? We don't know the day or the hour. God doesn't tell us that. I'm sure people will make a lot of money if they knew a lot of these things, and it wouldn't be what God wants. Let's go now to 1 Corinthians 15. Now you should understand, I'm going to chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15, over here.

Paul writes these things. It is amazing the knowledge that Paul had, the grasp he had, the depth of understanding, and God wants us to have that same understanding that he had. But in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 45, And so it is written, the first Adam, first man Adam became a living being.

And the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That's Christ. Christ is the last Adam.

Or the second Adam, maybe another way you could put that. And it says, However, the spiritual is not first. And so the physical is what's first, and then the spiritual. In verse 47, the first man was of the earth. He was earthy. Adam and Eve made of dust, basically. Red clay is what Adam means, in fact.

And it says, So also those who are made of dust, and as in the heavenly man, so also those who are heavenly. We're going to be made heavenly. Or spiritual is another way we could put that. And as we bore the image of man of dust, we shall bear the image of the heavenly man. And again, it fits into the trumpets here. And that's why trumpets is a shadow of things to come.

Jesus Christ was the second Adam, very probably, born on the Feast of Trumpets in the fall of the year, not on December 25, obviously. He, of course, was the second Adam, or the last Adam, as it puts it here. But, you know, interestingly, we don't have the exactness of these things, but it certainly makes sense, doesn't it? It's logical that he was born on the Feast of Trumpets. At the shout of the shofar, we're going to be changed at the time of the return of Jesus Christ.

So we're going to be changed. We'll be like Christ, as I mentioned earlier. And when Jesus Christ comes, when Christ returns, brethren, He's going to be ruler of over all the nations. I won't go back to Zechariah 9. You know, Mr. McKeehen referred to the time when Christ came into Jerusalem on the lowly donkey. Read verse 10. Christ fulfilled verse 9, but He did not fulfill verse 10. That's probably why the disciples wonder, are you going to Christ at this time?

Restore the Kingdom. Because it mentions He's going to subdue all nations at verse 10. He's not going to come back as a lowly lamb this time. He's going to come back as a conquering king. And when we are resurrected, we'll be right with Him when He goes forth to make war against the nations, when He comes back that second time. And so we are, brethren, going to, in fact, as we talk about, we're going to flip the tables.

We're going to flip the tables, and God is going to use us to be the rulers in the world tomorrow. First coming, Christ cleared the temple. In the second coming, He's going to clear the world. He's going to change the world. And you know what? We're going to be there to help Him to do that. But we're not going to come in as bulls of the shy of closet. We're going to be very gentle with people as much as humanly we can be, or as God's beings or God's servants.

But we're going to take the law from Zion out to the nations and the whole world will be changed. Another thing that trumpets is a shadow of, brethren, is this. That trumpets is an alarm to us, an advance warning, you better be prepared spiritually. And you hear that alarm every feast.

Every feast. I daresay you've never been to a feast of trumpets you didn't hear about repentance. And changing. It's an alarm, brethren, for us to warn us of what is coming. The world is essentially asleep. And most won't respond now, but I'll tell you what, who should respond is you and wah. I need to respond. I need to do something about, you know, this mind I've got.

I've got to change it. You know, and it's reasonable that I change what I have to become like Christ. Let Christ live his life over in me. Let's go to Romans chapter 13. Romans 13. Romans 13. And I'll try to wrap this up here. It's been a long day, but in Romans 13, verse 11, notice this, here Paul says, and do this, do this, knowing the time.

Do we know the time, brethren? I tried to do what I call the prophetic times, warning people of what is going on in the world. But it says that now it is high time. Time to stop making excuses for ourselves. It's high time to wake up. Paul said, Wake up out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. So he says, at high time we did that. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

Again, it's high time for every one of us. And I'm talking not just to you, I'm talking to me, to do a lot better. We can always redouble our efforts and do better than we have done before, as God's people. It's time to wake up from spiritual slumber and arise. You know, Jesus Christ spoke a parable about the Ten Virgins, and five were wise, and five were smart enough to put oil in the lamps.

You know, have you ever noticed you've got to put batteries in a flashlight to make it work? You've got to put oil in lamps. In a way, this is sort of laughable, isn't it? You've got a lamp, but you didn't put any oil in it. You know, it's dark. Somebody says, well, you've got a lamp? Yeah, I've got a lamp. You've got any oil? No, I don't have any oil. Well, you don't have a lamp to light the way if you don't have oil. You know, the Bible talks about how that God is calling the weak of the world. And I don't mean to belittle someone who forgets to put physical oil in a lamp, but we're talking about spiritual oil here, or the Holy Spirit.

But I think that sometimes we can do pretty stupid things, can't we? I want to share with you what somebody sent to me one time. I guess they thought I needed it when they sent this to me.

But it's very few vignettes about the way people are. The title of what was sent to me was, You Can't Fix Stupid. I don't know if any of you have seen this, this kind of thing. But this is about Walmart. There's a fellow that wrote this. He says, I was checking out at a local Walmart with just a few items, and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine.

And I picked up one of those dividers that they keep between the people's things so they don't get mixed up. And he said he picked that up and put it between his stuff and the lady behind him. He said after the girl, who was the checkout girl, had scanned all my items, he picked up the divider, looking it all over for the barcode, so she could scan it. And not finding the barcode, she said to me, do you know how much this cost? And I said to her, I changed my mind.

I don't think I want to buy it today. She said, okay. And he said, I paid her for the things that left. She had no clue of what had just happened. You can't fix stupid, you know. Another vignette here was given, someone at McDonald's. Recently, when I went to McDonald's, I saw on the menu that you could order six, nine, or twelve Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half a dozen.

We don't have half dozen nuggets, said the teenager at the counter. You don't? I replied. We only have, you know, the teenager said six, nine, and twelve was the ply. So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six.

That's right. So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets. Again, you can't fix stupid, you know. Here's another one. It's an intern. Several years ago, we had an intern who was none too swift. One day, she was typing and turned to the secretary and said, I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do? And she said, the secretary told her, just use copier paper. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier, and proceeded to make five blank copies. Again, you can't fix stupid. You know, all of us are a little stupid, right?

All of us make mistakes. And God does say He calls the weak of the world. And you know, when I read these, the good news is we're not alone. But lest we be like the five unwise virgins, brethren, let's keep putting the oil in the lamp. Let's keep doing that. We have a real responsibility to be true, faithful servants of God, obeying His commandments and fulfilling our commitment that we made when we got baptized.

We made a promise, and we need to keep the promise to God. Now, that's one thing I told God when I started this journey back in 1968. I said, God, I don't know if I can finish this. You know, we have our talks with God when we come to repentance. I don't know whether I can finish this, but I do promise you if you'll help me, I'll drag myself across the line. I'll do that, and I'll fight to be there. Now, I think it's important, and another significant point about trumpets, maybe people don't think about all that much, is you know what? On trumpets in ancient Israel, when they had the tabernacle, or later it was the temple, you know where they blew the shofar?

They blew it at the tabernacle. They blew it at the temple. You heard the trumpets today, didn't you? And hopefully you heard more than the brass trumpets and the shofar that was blown, but you heard the trumpet of the speaking. You've got to be near the temple. You've got to be near the temple to hear the shofar. There are going to be a lot of people who will be caught and aware because they're not near the temple. They don't hear. And consequently, they don't respond. So stay close to the temple. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, the church is the temple.

The church is the temple. So be clued in, brother. That's a warning that we get from this day. Some don't know about this day we observe today, brethren, but they will. Some day they're going to know. Some day they're going to know, and you know what? They're going to repent. They're going to change. They're going to be dedicated.

And boy, if we're just people that didn't get it in this lifetime, and we did know, you know, we're going to be pretty ashamed of what they do with the knowledge when it really registers with them. If we do know right now, brethren, what this day means, and it's incumbent upon us to apply the things that we're hearing so that we can be happy, that when that loud shriel begins to happen, your journey will be over in terms of, you know, here to be in a spirit being. Because when you hear that sound, you're going to be changed out of this flesh and become a spiritual member of the very family of God. So, brethren, work in your life. Establish yourself, spiritually speaking. Apply what you're hearing so that when you hear the shofar, it will be joyful to you, and you'll be able to inherit eternal life.